Demonstuck
by Oleander Grimm
Summary: I'll rename it later. It's rated T for some language, and gore, but that's all. This is a AU where the world is ravaged by demons, and will tell the stories of it's survivors- and others ;). For the purpose of making sense, there won't be and of the Alpha kids. I'm sorry about that! And please review. If there are any errors, I'd like to know


The sun was setting quickly, and John Egbert boarded up their apartment for the night as the last of their group came home. Night was when the demons came out, everyone knew better than to stay out past sunset.

The Striders were always the first out in the morning, and the last to come back, almost always too late. The rule was that no matter who was still out there, at sunset they locked up. No exceptions. Jade was always worried that they might not make it one day, but John doubted it. They were risky, sure, but not stupid.

"There's more harlequins out than usual," Dave explained as his Bro joined the other adults. "And they're getting more violent,"

"Do you think they'll let us into their meeting?" John asked half-heartedly.

"No, man. Just join us. I've got the AJ, it'll be a thousand times better than their shitty meetings,"

"Alright, Dave, I'll join you guys in a sec,"John goes to catch his dad before he left for the meeting.

"Oh and hey John. Happy Birthday, bro,"

"Yeah,"

The Egberts were in charge of keeping the headquarters safe while the others were out hunting the demons. John longed to join his friends out there, but his dad said that he could once he became 'a man', and that staying back was just as important as fighting the monsters. To cheer him up, his dad would leave cakes and notes of encouragement for him every day. At first, John was excited to grow up, and loved the gifts. But now the charm of the notes was gone, and John can't stand the sight of cake. He was 13 now, for crying out loud.

It was the same as usual. "John, it takes a lot of responsibility to hunker down at home base. They need us here. You'll understand when you're older,"

"But I am older! I'm not a child,"

"You're not a man, yet. Don't worry about it for now," Dad left it at that, and went to his meeting. John sighed, and joined his friends, but it was obvious he wasn't in it today.

It has been 7 years since the demons rose and attacked the earth. No one knew what they were exactly; there were many different kinds, but that didn't matter so much. They all killed mankind. Those who survived were broken; all traces of order were replaced by anarchy and chaos. Some people try to keep to the old ways, though. Rose read about other towns set up, but it was forbidden for them to go near. You didn't know who you could trust.

Their ragtag group wasn't exactly a town; just four broken-up families increasing their chances of survival by sticking together in an abandoned apartment. It's supposed to be safer that way, because there are less people to lose, yet more people to fight and protect one another.

Special dates like birthdays were important to them. It was one more year that you survived, and everyone valued survival. Yet John didn't feel special. Tomorrow would be another day staying here; nothing changed.

After a couple of hours, John and his friends disbanded; Rose and her mom had sentry duty tonight, while the rest tried to get a good sleep between the fits of nightmares.

On John's bed laid another cake, and antoher note. What a surprise. He had already gotten one today, but because it was his birthday, his dad decided to 'treat him'.

John threw the cake in the trash, and skimmed the note. More sap about how proud he was of John, and how much he's grown. He threw that in the trash, too.

_If he was so proud of me, why can't he trust me outside? _John thought. _If I've grown so much, why can't I decide for myself? I should decide for myself. Yeah…_

Early the next day, they had a quick breakfast, then the Striders, LaLondes, and Harleys equipped themselves for battle. Dad Egbert opened the gate and let them out. The gate was a magnificent design by Dave's Bro; made from bits and pieces of steel from rusty buildings, it could take quite a bit of damage and still stand its ground. The controls were deep in the basement, and only Dad and Bro knew how to operate it. John usually stood outside the door, in case anything tried to make a break for it first thing in the morning. This never happened.

Once the others were out, Dad closed the gate and went for his son. Today was a special day. Now that he was 13, John would learn how to operate the gate, just in case anything happen to Dad. He knew his son was anxious to do something to help, so he felt this would make up for it.

He went to the front lobby of the apartment, but strangely John wasn't there. He wasn't in his bedroom, or the bathroom or the kitchen. In fact, he doesn't seem to be anywhere.

Worried, Dad went to the weapons room, in what used to be a janitor's closet, just in case anything got to his son. To no one's surprise but his own, a Hammerkind was missing. John's weapon.

It was easy for John to sneak out. Once the others left, instead of staying and guarding the door, he simply went after them. It'd be stupid to follow the others; his friends might not mind as much, but their guardians would certainly tell his dad about it, and that would be the end of his escapades.

The familiar city that he used to know had degraded into rusting ruins, forgotten relics of a powerful nation, headed for the future. It was actually kind of beautiful; someone could say this was a commentary on the fall of consumerism and greed. If you ignored the hundreds of thousands of deaths that led to this.

By noon, John started to regret his decision to escape the apartment. He watched outside an old department store as some of the demons taking cover inside tore each other apart, for lack of any better meal. Watching from a safe distance, he recalled that he was never trained to fight demons, and that it was very stupid to go out alone. It was about time he got home.

A few feet later, John realized he didn't know where home was. He wandered so far off, and failed to keep track of which way he went, and was now lost. He tried to look for a familiar landmark, but he had never spent much time outside, so it all looked unfamiliar to him. John spent the afternoon going backwards, in the same direction. That's what you do if you're lost, right?

The days he spent in the apartment went by like molasses, slow and monotonous, but the rest of the day slipped through his fingers. Sunset was coming quickly, and fear was eating away at John's sanity. He was as good as dead. There was nothing that he could do, so John walked to a crumbling wall, sat down, and waited. Once again, time slowed to a crawl. John watched the sun set on the horizon, like a ticking time bomb to his death.

He felt like he was losing his mind, because he swore he saw someone coming to him. That someone looked like his dad. His dad couldn't possibly be here, he never left the apartment, and the apartment could be miles away for all he knew.

"John, get up! We have to go now!"

"What? Dad how did you-"

"No time, just go!" Dad took him by the arm, and they ran. John saw a different side of his dad that he never knew; the cheerful, goofy man was replaced by a harsher, more emotionally hardened man.

Night had hardened, and Dad Egbert was on edge. "Do you have your hammer?"

John nodded silently. "Keep it out, and be prepared," John nodded, but he didn't know how to be prepared. He said nothing though.

The demons came soon after night fell. It was the harlequins that Dave warned him about. They were black inkblots of beings wearing shredded clown costumes, with wild yellow eyes and sharp teeth, pulled across its face into a grotesque smile. They were more terrifying than John expected, especially since his dad used to love harlequins. Before their apocalyptic future, the Egbert's home was filled with harlequin statues and paintings. John hated those things, but never had he thought he'd be terrified of them.

The harlequins swarmed them; the demons they killed were quickly replaced. John fought randomly; aiming to hit multiple demons at once, but more often than not, he dodged and backed away. He was surprised by how well his dad fought. Dad Egbert had a sword; he swung, stabbed, parried and blocked like he had been doing this his whole life. John would have questioned how his dad how he learned to fight, but he was too busy trying not to die.

They ran as they fought, with Dad leading the way. Ironically, John was close to the apartment. John knew that the gate is locked by now, but he ran home anyways. Just being outside the gate made him feel safer.

_I will never leave the apartment again,_ John thought, resting his head against the cold metal gate. His thoughts were broken by a scream. In his hurry to get to the gate, John had left his dad behind. Terrified, and thinking of the worst that could happen, John turned around.

Sometimes, we tend to think of the absolute worst situation that could happen to us. These situations rarely happen, and afterwards we feel relieved and rather foolish of ourselves for even considering that possible outcome. This is not one of those times.

Dad Egbert had a harlequin hanging off of his shoulders, biting into his flesh. He threw the demon off, but they just kept coming. John couldn't speak; he could call for help or scream in horror, just watch as his dad was attacked.

There was a quiet moment, between two hoards of demons, one group killed and the other coming. John met his father's eyes. He couldn't tell whether the look was of sorrow, or regret, or shame. "Get inside," his dad said. Then the fighting ensued.

John felt a hand grab his shoulder, and jumped. It was Jade's grandfather. For the first time since John could remember, the gate was open after nightfall.

He took John away, and the gate closed behind them. John turned around for his father, and found that the demons had left him for dead. For some reason, they didn't bother eating him.

"Hey, what about my dad? He's there, we can save him!" John said, starting to go back. But he was restrained and quickly ushered inside.

John was told that his dad was truly gone. He would turn into a sort of hybrid demon; the appearance of a human, but with bloodshot eyes, and the wounds from their death. They thought that they left him to lure their group out, but no one could know. Maybe they just weren't hungry.

They wanted John to go to his room, but John refused, and sat at the door. Bro had the key, so as long as the doors stayed locked, John was allowed to stay there. No one could understand why. John never slept, just listened to his dad moan and call to him throughout the night.

His dad died slowly, painfully. His cries continued for hours. "John… Jooohn," John never cried during this, just stared off into nothing, a distant, pained look on his face.

When morning came, the adults discussed what to do with Dad's body. They knew they had to kill him themselves before the transformation into a hybrid is complete; they had about 12 hours to do this. After what felt like hours, Bro approached John.

"We're giving you the choice if you want to. I think that you should be the one to take care of your dad. It only seems fair, and it will prepare you for the future,"

"You mean, I'm going to learn how to fight?"

"Yeah. Even if you take your dad's place, you should know how to defend yourself in case shit like this happens," Bro was always blunt about things; right to the point and never sugarcoating the truth. "This is only if you want to, though. I'll do the job in that case,"

John didn't hesitate in answering. "I'll do it,"

Bro didn't question him. "Good luck, man," he said, giving John the keys out and going to the basement.

Dave was watching them attentively, and went to talk to him once Bro left. "You gonna be alright?" John nodded. "You're pretty cool, you know that? Not in the ironic sense either. I could never do this. It sucks that it had to happen, but you're taking it really well,"

"Yeah," John responded. He couldn't delay it any longer. Dave mumbled a good luck, and left.

The gate was already open when John went out. His dad was just outside, a trail of blood leading back to where he was attacked.

John wanted it to go quickly; get the job done and go back inside. But next to Dad's body was a note.

Shaking, John picked it up. He never paid attention to any of the other notes, but this time, John carefully read every word:

JOHN

BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, YOU WILL HAVE ALREADY BECOME A MAN.

I COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD OF YOU.

I LOVE YOU, JOHN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON

John stifled his sobs, trying not to cry. Not only would he be mentally unable to do the job, but the tears would cloud up his glasses.

John looked over at his dad. He had been bitten everywhere, blood and guts everywhere.

"I'm sorry, Dad," John whispered. He looked away, and swung.

_Dad has nothing to be proud of._


End file.
